The game commonly called “Hopscotch” in the United States is well known as a children's playground game. Typically a path of approximately square boxes are marked on the ground (e.g., using chalk or paint). The marked boxes are drawn edge to edge to form a linear path one box wide except for optional places where two boxes are placed laterally together as a side-by-side pair. A typical set of game rules includes the following. A player must hop on one foot along the game path from a starting box to the next box to the next box and so on until reaching the outermost box (i.e., the box furthest away from the starting box). Upon reaching the outermost box, the player must turn around and hop back to the starting box. While hopping, the player's foot may not touch a box's outline; the player must keep moving from box to box; and no part of the player's body other than the hopping foot may touch the ground. If any rule is violated while a player is moving along the path, the player's turn ends. Where a pair of boxes are placed side-by-side, then the player must hop into one of them, then hop sideways into the other one of them, then continue hoping forward into the next box along the path. Optional rules require the player to put both feet down into paired boxes: the left foot into the box on the player's left, and the right foot into the box on the player's right. The boxes along the path may be numbered in sequence, in which case the player must hop into the boxes in the order of the numbered sequence, and continuing in reverse order after turning around in the outermost (highest numbered) box. The first player to move according to the rules through the entire path in one turn wins the game. Rule variations include a marker (e.g., a small stone) that is thrown or placed into a box and must then be retrieved while the player hops along the path. Alternatively, each player may have a unique marker that he/she uses to mark the box at which the player's turn ended. Because of the hopping required, the game of Hopscotch provides physical exercise and helps develop bodily coordination and a sense of balance.
Compared to Hopscotch, an existing game that involves less physical exercise, but more coordination and balance has been marketed by Milton Bradley under the name of Twister™. In this game there is a floor mat with twenty-four large colored circles on it, arranged in four rows, with each row having six circles of the same color, different from the colors in the other rows (e.g., a red row, a blue row, a yellow row, and a green row). Like Hopscotch, the circles are “boxes” wherein a designated body part (like the hopping foot) must be placed according to a sequence determined by the rules of play, and a player's turn ends if any undesignated part of the body touches the ground (mat). Unlike Hopscotch, two to four player's take their turns simultaneously, and the winner is the last one of the players to end their turn. Furthermore, there is no hopping between boxes. Instead a referee spins a spinner that randomly determines both a body part and a color, whereupon all players must simultaneously move their designated body part to place it in a box of the designated color. Only four body parts are designated: left hand, right hand, left foot, and right foot. Except for the case of team play, only one body part at a time may be placed in a box.
Although Twister™ is enjoyed by teens and adults much more than Hopscotch, both games would appeal to a larger audience if made more challenging. Therefore it is an object of the present invention to improve the game of Hopscotch to make it more challenging for teens and adults, thereby making it more interesting to them. It is a further object to include more physical exercise as a part of the game. It is also an object to add a variety of game elements that can be creatively and imaginatively employed by the players such that the game is always fresh and new, and can be made more or less difficult depending upon the abilities of the players.